Abstract
Investigations were carried out to determine the composition of fungal flora in the studied sites. Samples of the raw effluent were collected along the flow channel and the retention pond. Water samples were also collected at the discharge point and up and down stream of the river from the discharge point. The samples were spinned at a speed of 250rpm for 10minutes and spread inoculated the deposits on potato carrot agar (PCA) and potato agar supplemented with 7.5% Nacl. Inoculated plates were incubated aerobically at room temperature in dark cupboard for 7days. Fungal colonies that emerged on the primary culture plates were distinguished into types. The pure isolates were characterized into genera using standard taxonomic guides. Genera such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Curvularia, Fusarium, Microsporum, Trichoderma, Rhizoctonia, Nigrospora and Chaetophoma species were detected in the raw effluent. However, Microsporum, Trichoderma, Rhizoctonia, Nigrospora and Chaetophoma species were conspicuously absent in the effluent retention pond. Only Trichoderma and Chaetophoma species were absent in water samples collected at the treated effluent discharge point into the recipient River. Samples of water collected up stream of the discharge point did not contain Geotrichum, Nigrospora and Chaetophoma species. Curvularia, Microsporum, Rhizoctonia and Nigrospora species were not detected in water samples collected downstream of the discharge point. It was therefore concluded that, fungi constitute a significant proportion of the microflora of sites contaminated with the refinery effluent and could be playing an important role in the remediation of sites receiving the effluent. © JASEM Keywords : Fungal flora, Refinery effluent, Retention ponds, Discharge point, Upstream, Downstream
Highlights
Effluents that emanate from petroleum refineries and other petrochemical industries are characterized by high levels of greases, oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Zhu et al, 2001; Bako et al, 2002; Vanhamme et al, 2003)
The results obtained from this study clearly reveal that fungi do survive and grow in both the untreated and partially treated refinery effluents as well as in water from the river that serves as the recipient of the partially treated effluent (Table 1)
It was observed that of the ten genera detected in the five study sites, 9 were isolated from the untreated effluent samples, 5 in samples from the waste oil retention pond, 8 in water samples collected at the point of waste discharge into the river and 7 each in water samples collected from upstream and downstream of the discharge point (Table 1)
Summary
Effluents that emanate from petroleum refineries and other petrochemical industries are characterized by high levels of greases, oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Zhu et al, 2001; Bako et al, 2002; Vanhamme et al, 2003). Fungi are considered the most ubiquitous owing to their capacity to grow using a wide range of hydrocarbons (Kari et al, 2003) in the presence of high levels of toxic heavy metal ions (Ulfig et al.,2003; Ayenimo et al, 2005; Shankar et al, 2007; Bako et al, 2008) These reports strongly suggest that, fungi constitute a significant proportion of the total microbial flora of the refinery effluent and effluent contaminated sites. This paper is a report of an investigation aimed at verifying the occurrence and generic composition of the mycoflora in the raw effluent, effluent retention pond of Kaduna refinery and petrochemical company (KRPC) and Romi River that received the partially treated effluent
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